


If You Get Lost, You Can Always Be Found

by Miss_Nihilist



Category: Tetsuwan Atom | Astro Boy
Genre: Angst, Astro Boy (2003), Canon Compliant, Canon Temporary Character Death, Families of Choice, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Missing Scene, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24242950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Nihilist/pseuds/Miss_Nihilist
Summary: Watching Atom put himself in harm’s way has never been easy, but Doctor Ochanomizu does his best to be there.Or, five times that Ochanomizu (almost) lost his son and one time that he did(n’t).
Relationships: Professor Ochanomizu | Dr. Packadermus J. Elefun & Atom | Astro Boy
Comments: 17
Kudos: 72





	1. I Will Wait For You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I noticed that Atom “almost” dies a lot during the course of the show, so I thought I’d do a series of little oneshots expanding on those from Ochanomizu’s point of view. It must be nerve-wracking as a parent. 
> 
> I’ll be using the Japanese sub order of episodes for the sequence of events, since the English dub aired them out of order. I'm also using the Japanese dialogue. Or, closer to it than the English dub had. Enjoy!
> 
> This chapter is based on E15: Only a Machine.

Doctor Ochanomizu had never been so thankful to have a son with an embedded tracking feature. All he had to do was adjust his scanners for the largest output of energy in the area — which was almost always going to be Atom — and then plug the readings into Inspector Tawashi's squad car.

They couldn't track the AI-stealing robot and there hadn't been anyone in Mr. Cane's mansion when they turned the place over. They would still be back there, searching fruitlessly with the rest of Tawashi's men if Ochanomizu hadn't pointed out that Atom was gone.

As useful as they were, sometimes he wished that the boy didn't have rockets in his feet and hands. It made it so much harder to keep him in one place.

Sirens preceded their arrival and Tawashi came to a hard stop at the mouth of an alley. Ochanomizu didn't bother telling him not to be so reckless. He fumbled to get out of his seatbelt and practically fell over himself stepping out of the hovercar. It wasn't the first time that Atom had faced something dangerous, but it never got easier for Ochanomizu to watch.

Besides, it wasn't Atom's physical safety that was at risk. Bodies could be repaired and parts could be replaced. If that rogue robot got a hold of Atom's artificial-intelligence, though, he would essentially be dead. He would be stripped of his personality and agency and left with only his basic programming.

Except that, unlike most robots, Atom didn't even have that much. Doctor Tenma hadn't programmed Atom with any set commands at all, a staggering feat even for a roboticist as accomplished as him. That meant that Atom was, in every sense, an individual.

And that also meant he could make his own choices independently, even if those choices put him only feet away from near-certain death. As much as Doctor Ochanomizu didn't like it, he respected Atom's ability to do so. It wasn't as though he could stop Atom. He took to helping people like a fish to water. Ochanomizu couldn't take that away from him.

Inspector Tawashi stepped out of the driver's side, turning his attention to the small fleet of squad cars that he brought with him. In front of them, about halfway into the wide alley, the back of the red, AI-stealing robot was visible. It wasn't moving. "Let's destroy that robot. Prepare to fire!" Tawashi called, raising one arm.

On his command, the other officers prepared their weapons to let loose. For once, Ochanomizu had to agree with Tawashi's approach and made no move to stop him. He wanted that robot destroyed, too.

There was the squeaking of familiar footsteps and Ochanomizu looked up with a mixture of surprise and relief. Atom was running toward them, but he didn't look happy to see them. "Please wait! Don't attack yet!" He begged, coming to a stop just outside of the alley.

Ochanomizu felt his smile fall, but as much as he wanted to insist, he knew that Atom wouldn't ask for something like that if it wasn't important. So Ochanomizu humored him. "Why not, Atom?"

He didn't hesitate to answer, looking desperate. "It stole Tefe's heart!" Atom cried. He looked so scared. That expression was becoming worryingly common on his face.

"It did what?" Ochanomizu felt his jaw drop. He looked over Atom's shoulder and, for the first time, noticed the other figures in the alley. Mr. Cane, who was their lead suspect in starting the whole fiasco, was crouched on the ground and clutching his daughter, Tefe, to his chest. She wasn't moving.

Recovering from his shock faster than Ochanomizu, Tawashi bristled and said, "We can't let such a dangerous robot run loose!" He started to signal to his men again and was cut off.

"No! Tefe's heart is still in there!" Atom insisted. His voice made it sound like a plea, but there was that determined look in his eyes that always gave Ochanomizu a mix of pride and terror. "I have a plan." He wasn't asking for permission (and he never did). Atom turned and ran back into the alley.

"Atom!" Ochanomizu reached after him, starting forward, and was stopped when Tawashi put an arm out in front of him. He shook his head once, not tearing his eyes away from the scene in front of him, and Ochanomizu followed his gaze.

What could they do, anyway? If destroying the robot wasn't an option, then there was really nothing that could be done until they found the operating device for it. Maybe Atom was going to reprogram it to return what it had stolen. Atom ran up to it but, still a good distance away from it, he suddenly stopped. Ochanomizu watched with a frown, the gears in his mind turning. The AI-stealing robot must have sensed Atom close because it turned to face him. The tubes that it used to suck out souls were hovering idly above its head. Still, Atom made no move to attack or to avoid it.

His frown fell, replaced with surprise as Ochanomizu realized what was about to happen. There was no way that Atom was… "...thinking of going in himself?" He finished his thought out loud, too stunned to move.

Not having quite caught on, Inspector Tawashi impatiently asked, "What are you saying?"

In an instant, the AI-stealing robot had attacked, one of its thin tubes streaking forward and latching onto Atom directly in the center of his forehead. As if he was the one who had gotten shot, Ochanomizu jolted and started forward. His mind was racing. Atom wasn't even trying to defend himself! Was he really so reckless, to risk his very existence on the slim chance that letting himself be absorbed would somehow allow him to rescue all of the other victims?

"Atom!" Ochanomizu cried out, struggling as Tawashi stuck both arms underneath his, curled them back, and forcibly held the doctor back by the shoulders. From their position, he couldn't see Atom's face, but Ochanomizu could see him wavering on his feet. He really was going to go through with it. " _Atom_!"

The robot retracted its tube, finished. Like a puppet with its strings cut, Atom collapsed. With a shout of alarm, Ochanomizu finally wrenched himself free and ran as fast as he could to the crumpled up body lying in the dirty alley. He didn't spare a single thought for the AI-stealing robot. It had returned to being immobile, paying none of them any mind.

Dropping to his knees, Ochanomizu didn't hesitate to pull Atom into his arms. The way that his head lolled, lacking any consciousness to keep it properly upright, made Ochanomizu feel sick. "Atom," he whispered, slipping his hand back to cradle Atom's head. His eyes were open but, rather than the eager brown eyes that normally greeted him, Ochanomizu found himself looking into cameras. That was all they were: two black screens embedded into a robot's artificial skull that allowed it to experience a similar sensation to sight.

Ochanomizu found himself shaking. Atom had been in danger before, and he had never liked it even then, but it had never been like this. It had never been so lifeless. He hated it. It felt like he was intruding upon something that he shouldn't be seeing.

It was as if someone had just flipped a switch and turned Atom off. The knowledge that, technically, someone _could_ made Ochanomizu grip him tighter. Because that was just the thing, wasn't it? Technically, Atom was just a machine. Ochanomizu wished that he didn't have to see the raw reminder. It felt horribly, sickeningly wrong.

Near him, Mr. Cane shifted. He tucked Tefe's head against his heart and looked at Ochanomizu sympathetically. "They'll both be alright," he managed shakily, as if trying to convince himself more than Ochanomizu. "Your boy is tough. He can fix all of this."

For a moment, he said nothing, then Ochanomizu forced himself to nod. Even if he didn't really believe it, he wasn't going to give up hope. He reached up and, carefully, closed Atom's eyes with a gentle click.

Coddling his son against his chest, Ochanomizu settled in to wait. He didn't think of the cold, hard body in his arms. He thought of the way that those eyes would open, just like they did every morning, and clung to that.


	2. Anybody Out There?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This episode is based on E16: Robot Hunters.

As soon as Ochanomizu saw that Inspector Tawashi was calling him, he knew that it was going to be bad news. If the capture mission had been successful, Atom would already be back at the Ministry, recounting the details to Ochanomizu himself. He answered the call and let Tawashi's toneless description of what had happened wash over him. He couldn't bring himself to speak, other than to promise to be at the police station as soon as possible before hanging up.

He hadn't liked the idea of Atom helping the robot police force, ARRS, track down the criminal masterminds who were stealing robots and using their parts for illegal weapons… but then, Ochanomizu never liked anything dangerous that Atom did. He knew that no amount of protesting from him would change Atom's mind about helping, though. It never did.

But maybe, just once, Ochanomizu should have pushed harder. Maybe Atom might have listened and stayed home that night, or at least been more careful. Maybe then he wouldn't be missing and presumed destroyed in the collapsed rubble of an old ice cream factory.

"Uran." Ochanomizu rapped softly on his daughter's door, pushing it open without waiting for her permission. "Uran, can I speak with you for a moment?"

She was only a few months old but, with the mind of a seven-year-old girl, Uran was plenty capable of occupying herself for a few hours. If worse came to worse, she always had Ochanomizu's housekeeping robot, Robita, to do what she couldn't yet. Technically, Uran should have been asleep anyway, but Atom had left hours ago after stopping by the house to tell them that he would be out on an assignment, and Ochanomizu had no doubt that Uran hadn't even thought about sleeping since.

Sure enough, Uran's desk lamp was still on and she was seated with her legs crossed on the floor. There was a stack of paper and several colors of crayons, but she hadn't done anything but doodled mindless scribbles. She wasn't even holding them when Ochanomizu entered the room, merely frowning contemplatively at her window. Ochanomizu noticed the tilt of her head and felt his chest squeeze in sympathy. He had always waited up many nights for the tell-tale sound of Atom's thrusters. It never got any less heart-pounding, no matter how many times he did it.

"Is it about big brother?" Uran asked. She stood up and climbed into her bed, clutching a pillow, but made no move to get under the covers.

Ochanomizu sighed. He hated hearing that question. It made him age about five more years each time. He sat down on the edge of Uran's bed, patting the spot next to him. Accepting the invitation, Uran scrambled over, still clutching that pillow to her chest as she settled in against Ochanomizu's side and leaned against him.

"I'm afraid it is." Ochanomizu put an arm around Uran, squeezing her comfortingly. "The building that he and the police squad were investigating collapsed. That was nearly an hour ago and there's still been no sign of Atom."

Uran was quiet for a few moments. "You're going to go get him back, aren't you?" She eventually asked. When Ochanomizu nodded, not trusting himself to speak, Uran smiled. "Big brother will be fine. He can do anything. He's probably just waiting for you to go get him and see all the bad guys he caught."

He wished that he could always have Uran's conviction. Sometimes it became nearly impossible for Ochanomizu to convince himself that everything would be alright.

Still, for Uran's sake, he managed a smile and nodded. "You're right. I'd better not leave Atom waiting, then."

He ran a hand through Uran's synthetic hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Ochanomizu stood up and pulled away with a monumental amount of effort. What if he looked away and he lost his daughter, too? Uran had already been in her fair share of trouble, and if Atom hadn't been there, then…

In silence, Ochanomizu gestured for Uran to lay down. She obediently got beneath her covers and let him tuck her in. Hopefully laying down properly would help trigger her artificial circadian rhythm and induce her sleep cycle.

He turned to the door and was about to remind Uran to get some sleep, his mouth already open when she suddenly spoke up instead.

"You know," Uran said with an odd look on her face, "I can tell what animals are feeling, but it's not _just_ animals that I can feel." There was a pause while Uran thought of how to continue. Ochanomizu, with his throat closing up, said nothing. "You don't have to feel so… lost, Doctor. I believe in big brother."

The smile that Ochanomizu gave her that time was a little more genuine. "Try to get some sleep, Uran. Atom will come and greet you when we get home. If you need anything, Robita is downstairs," he said gently.

Even though she hadn't stopped frowning, Uran nodded anyway. She rolled over onto her side, curled in her blankets, and Ochanomizu shut the door softly behind him. He sighed. It looked like it was going to be another long night for both of them.

Taking a deep breath, Ochanomizu pulled himself together and went back downstairs. Robita was in the kitchen, pretending to be busy to have an excuse to stay up as well. Ochanomizu smiled faintly to himself. It was nearly midnight and she was always finished with household tasks long before then. He almost told her to shut herself down for the night but thought better of it. No, it would be fine to let her fret.

He thought of Tobio sitting up late nights, waiting for his father until exhaustion eventually won out and he fell asleep on the couch, only to be tucked into bed by his housekeeping bot with his father none the wiser. The mental image was quickly pushed away. It made Ochanomizu feel sick.

Grabbing his hat and shrugging his coat on, Ochanomizu hurried out to his car. He hated that he had the address of the police station memorized, but at least it saved him the effort of typing it into his hovercar's GPS.

The drive was short, though Ochanomizu suspected that it was due, in large part, to his foot choking the gas pedal and his willful disregard of most traffic laws. It was late, though, and the street and sky were almost empty of hovercars. He arrived at the police station and parked diagonally, taking up two spaces right in front of the entrance. Ochanomizu didn't care. A parking fine wasn't anything he hadn't dealt with before and, in his rush, the possible penalty was more than worth it. He would be leaving as soon as Inspector Tawashi told him where to start searching, anyway.

No one spoke to him once Ochanomizu entered the building. He was well-recognized as Director of the Ministry of Science and, if the pitying looks occasionally shot his way meant anything, they all knew exactly why he was there and where he was heading. Ochanomizu was plenty familiar with where to find Tawashi's debriefing room.

It was an ovular room with a large table dominating the center. The walls were covered with monitors and screens. There were two dozen chairs crammed around the table and even more squeezed in around the work desks and each one of them was filled either by someone in a familiar, blue police uniform or by a scientist in a lab coat. Tawashi was there next to one of the monitors, talking to a man whom Ochanomizu recognized as the police chief. But he couldn't be damned to respect authority or even to remember the chief's name at the moment.

"Inspector!" Although not physically imposing, Ochanomizu was a master of using his voice to fill the space that the rest of him couldn't. He marched up to Inspector Tawashi, who had turned to face him with a grim look. That wasn't good. "Inspector, what happened out there? Why hasn't Atom returned yet?"

The police chief tried to interject, annoyed, and Ochanomizu silenced the man with a withering glare. He was only there for a location and an explanation. It would take two minutes, maybe, and then he would be gone. That wasn't unreasonable to Ochanomizu.

Similarly, Inspector Tawashi stopped trying to protest as soon as he looked Ochanomizu in the eyes. Instead, he sighed.

"It's not just Atom," he said, sounding strained. "We've lost contact with ARRS captain, Delta. The other members of his squad only called us after an hour of searching on their own. Evidently, the human perpetrators behind these thefts escaped and they're still missing the leader of the Robot Hunters."

None of those details answered Ochanomizu's questions.

"Where are they?" He pressed impatiently. He had learned that he was more likely to get a direct answer if he asked direct questions.

"We tracked the criminal's hideout to an abandoned ice cream factory in Section D-4Q," Tawashi admitted. He seemed reluctant. "It was Atom's suggestion, based on something he had seen the night before. Apparently, they were right, because they were trapped by an energy shield in a room that was being filled with electrically-charged water. The way the remaining squad described it, if they hadn't found a way out, they wouldn't have made it. So when their only exit collapsed with the others still inside, they assumed that..." Tawashi trailed off.

It wasn't like Tawashi to mince his words, but Ochanomizu knew exactly what the inspector was trying to tell him. He froze.

Even if they could find Atom, it was doubtful that he would still be alive.

"Why didn't you respond sooner?" Ochanomizu snapped. He felt a sudden rush of anger at no one in particular. He was furious with the whole situation. "An entire _factory_ collapsed! Weren't you monitoring it?"

"That area is abandoned!" Tawashi shot back, always quick to anger. "We had troops on standby, but they can't do anything if they aren't alerted that something's wrong!"

"And you weren't checking in on them regularly? You weren't asking for updates?" He demanded, stepping close enough to Tawashi that their noses were touching.

Ochanomizu was _incensed_. Everything else aside, Atom was still a child. They only let him join in on police work because he would do it regardless of what they said, but if the police were going to profit off of Atom's work, they could at _least_ look after him in one of the most basic ways possible.

Suddenly, Tawashi had nothing to say. He looked away, grimacing. Even the police chief had forgotten his annoyance and found something to busy himself with across the room. Again, Tawashi wasn't telling him anything directly, and Ochanomizu understood regardless. He had to physically bite his tongue to keep from saying something he would regret.

It was because they were all _robots_. Atom, Delta, the leader of the Robot Hunters… Robots weren't seen as valuable. They were commodities. They could be replaced. Why waste the resources on protecting them, then?

He opened his mouth to say something but Ochanomizu just as quickly changed his mind. Instead, he shook his head and turned toward the exit.

"Doctor Ochanomizu. Where are you going?" Tawashi called after him.

Stopping by the door, Ochanomizu considered not saying anything. He thought of Uran's head tilted toward the sky for any sign of her brother returning home safely and couldn't help but clench his fingers into fists. His hands were shaking.

"The Ministry is going to organize a search party," he said finally, not turning around. "If your forces want to join us, Inspector, you're more than welcome. But with or without your help, I'm going to find my son."

He pushed open the door and started down the hall with purpose. No one tried to stop him. Ochanomizu didn't look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think that 2003 Uran can read people's emotions, only animals. Which doesn't make any sense. But she can do that in _PLUTO_ , so that's my citation.


	3. I Can't Move the Mountains For You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on E23: Lost in Outland.
> 
> It was going to be part of a longer fic I was working on for this episode, but that didn't happen. A loss of inspiration, I guess. But it was going to be good.

The searchlights sweeping across the tundra caused the freshly-fallen snow to shimmer, nearly blinding to look at. Every time one of the hovercopters roared overhead, he felt his heart rate pick up, as though one of them might finally be stopping to report that they had found a clue. But no such thing happened. The copters continued, almost unhurried in their movements.

Doctor Ochanomizu, bundled up against the arctic cold and, chilled to the bone, trudged through the razor-sharp wind and snow flurries toward the only thing marring the empty skyline. It was an old satellite, busted up and left barely hanging on to its shape. It was being disassembled for transport and safe disposal by a team of scientists, but that wasn't what Ochanomizu was interested in. He ignored the people swarming the hunk of metal like flies and walked its perimeter until he came to a section that had been sealed off.

Poles had been stuck into the ground to form a square and they were all connected with flimsy, bright yellow warning tape that looked like it might rip at any moment in the harsh winds. There wasn't much beyond it. A small group of investigators were on their hands and knees in the snow, muttering to each other through communicators behind their warm face masks and taking precise measurements as quickly as they could before the falling snow covered their only evidence.

Behind the tape, there was a set of boot prints surrounded by melted snow. There was one large area where something small had come down, hard, and another where the snow had melted in a circle as something had taken off. The measurements were going to be compared with their last recorded airborne location to find a trajectory, speed, and angle to help narrow down the possible crash sites.

It was no doubt going to be a violent crash. When they found Atom, Ochanomizu knew he would need extensive repairs.

"Doctor." He was startled from his thoughts by Yuko's voice barely audible over the howling wind, turning to see his secretary coming toward him through the snow. He almost asked why she hadn't simply paged him, but then realized that she probably had and he had been too distracted to notice. "Doctor Ochanomizu, you can't be out in the snow like this for too long. You'll catch cold and the last thing you need right now, on top of everything else, is to be sick in bed."

He smiled kindly at her as Yuko stopped next to him, though the smile soon fell. Looking back toward the fading footprints in the snow, Ochanomizu sighed. "I can't, Yuko. He's out there somewhere, I know he is. I have to find him."

Her expression wasn't clear to see through the bundles of winter clothes she wore, but that didn't matter — Ochanomizu didn't need to see it to know that Yuko's face was creased with pity. "Sir, we _will_ find Atom. He saved the world today. But standing out here in the freezing snow isn't going to get him back. You need to be inside, monitoring the data."

There wasn't a logical way to explain himself to her, Ochanomizu knew, and that was entirely because none of his actions were being dictated by logic. Looking at the spot where Atom had taken off, no doubt wanting to return home, wasn't helping the search efforts, but it was all that Ochanomizu had. Once the snow had covered it entirely, there would be no proof that Atom had been there at all. Robots didn't leave behind any sign that they had been somewhere, so the small ditch he had dug coming down and those child-sized footprints… That was all there was left of him.

A scientist wouldn't be wasting his time on something that clearly wasn't making any progress. As a father, Ochanomizu could barely stand the thought of doing anything else.

"Why did I let him run off?" Ochanomizu muttered. "I don't know what I was thinking. The entire world was at risk — of course he was going to try to help, without my permission. I could have at least warned him that he wouldn't be able to handle the heat of a satellite this large entering the atmosphere. Then, maybe..."

Yuko set a hand on his shoulder and gave a fond squeeze. "You know Atom," she said gently. "He wouldn't have listened, no matter how many warnings you gave him. He would have come here whether you asked him to or not. He saved the world from an unimaginable disaster. If the ice cap had melted and flooded the planet, more than four-hundred million people would have died or lost their homes."

Ochanomizu scoffed and shrugged her hand off of his arm. "Don't quote my own numbers at me. I created that simulation myself, I know what would have happened."

Though Yuko chuckled, it didn't last long. Her smile collapsed. "So you know that you should stop worrying about what you could have done differently. This was the best outcome. Come back inside, Doctor. Wherever Atom is, he needs you, and you're not going to find him here."

She was right, of course. Ochanomizu knew that, he just didn't want to acknowledge the truth. And the truth was, it was going to take more than luck and wishful thinking to get Atom home. He could be just about anywhere in the world.

Hopelessness washed over him like a wave. Searching the entire planet for one boy was a tall order. Ochanomizu knew that, logically, it was pointless to try. He would never get the funding for an extended search party and the mountains of data to comb through were as endless as the places that Atom could have landed. And if he landed in water, as was most likely, then he was as good as dead with busted circuits. His insides weren't waterproof.

But Atom never gave up. What kind of father would Ochanomizu be if he stopped before he even began? Certainly not one that deserved a son like Atom.

"Alright," Ochanomizu agreed. He shot one last look at the satellite over his shoulder, as though he might finally notice some crucial detail he had missed before. There was nothing. If the satellite held any answers, it wasn't sharing.

Resolute, Ochanomizu turned and followed Yuko back to their transport.


	4. What Do I Stand For?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on E37: _Atlas Strikes Back!_
> 
> By the way, I have no idea what the Doctor's name is in the English dub but, in Japanese, this guy is called Dr. Haburosa so that's what I'm going with.

A kidnapping. Something told Ochanomizu that he should have expected it, but the thought only made him angry. Why should any parent have to _anticipate_ their child being taken from them?

But really, after what happened just the day before, with Uran being controlled and forced to rampage through Metro City Mall, Ochanomizu should have been prepared for a follow-up. He just hadn't thought that it would be so fast. Or that Atom would be unable to handle it.

Yuko said that Atlas was the one responsible, though. Ochanomizu wasn't stupid. The poor boy was probably being controlled too, like Uran. And Atom was so gentle-hearted, of course he'd barely tried to fight back.

He was too kind for his own good and _someone_ had taken advantage of that.

"The police have no lead on Atom or Atlas," Yuko said. Her fingers were flying over Momo's keyboard and she scanned the words on her screen with steely-eyed focus. She felt it, too. The frustration. The unfairness of it all.

Just two weeks before, Ochanomizu had found Atom kidnapped by a psychotic gang leader and saw him be tortured, _twice_ , just because he was a robot with a heart and no one considered their lives on the same level as humans. Atom was so much more than metal and wires. Why did something like this _always_ have to happen to him?

There was a loud thud as Ochanomizu slammed his fists into his desk. His chair clattered as he knocked it back, but it didn't fall over. It didn't matter either way. He was shaking.

The sound of typing stopped. There was a pause and then Yuko's heels clicked on the tile floor as she turned around to face him. Still, Ochanomizu didn't look over at his secretary. He didn't so much as twitch. "Doctor Ochanomizu?" She tried, hesitant.

He tried, but couldn't manage a response to her. Ochanomizu took a shaky breath. He tried to unclench his fists and failed. "Atom…" He muttered. He could be anywhere in the world.

Static crackled from the large monitor that oversaw Ochanomizu's work desk. It was loud enough to startle him and sudden enough that, at least for a second, he managed to focus on something other than his indignation. Before he could even think to ask about it, Yuko had already returned to her keyboard and came up seconds later with an analysis.

"Someone is hijacking the Ministry's signal," Yuko informed him.

Ochanomizu could tell by the tone of her voice that they were thinking the same thing. His expression tightened and his anger returned in full-force. He knew that he didn't have to tell her but he said anyway, "Answer it."

A nod and an absent-minded, "Yes, sir," was her answer. Yuko tapped into the unauthorized communication attempt in no time at all.

The first thing that Ochanomizu thought when he saw the man was, " _at least it wasn't Tenma."_ If nothing else, Atom's kidnapping hadn't been part of an elaborate, needlessly cruel ploy to force him into a fight that he didn't want all in the name of making him "evolve." It was cold comfort, but Ochanomizu would take what he could get.

After the initial reaction passed, Ochanomizu realized that he recognized the kidnapper. He had long, grey hair and steel eyes. His outfit was a modified lab coat, marking him as a scientist. He had to be a microengineer to design something as sophisticated as a chip that could take away a robot's free will. As much as Ochanomizu loathed the very idea, he had to begrudgingly admit that it took someone very skilled in robotics to pull it off. But why was the man so familiar?

" _Long time no see, Ochanomizu,"_ he said smugly. The sound of his voice was the final piece of the puzzle: realization hit like a bullet train. " _Are you upset that Atom can't be found?"_

"Y-You're...! Doctor Haburosa?" Ochanomizu replied, mouth agape. The initial surprise was dwindling rapidly. The longer that Ochanomizu looked at that smirk, the harder it was not to let his anger show on his face.

No, anger wasn't the right word for it anymore. Ochanomizu was _furious_.

Because he knew _exactly_ where this was going. He was aware of Doctor Haburosa talking and Yuko asking him questions, but he wasn't paying attention. The background behind Haburosa didn't give away any clues as to where he was and that was all that Ochanomizu cared about.

A rush of memories came back to him. He had nearly forgotten the grouchy, duller-than-dishwater scientist that had served as Vice Minister when Doctor Tenma was the head of the Ministry of Science. No one had been surprised when he left. Haburosa had been complaining about Tenma's methods for _years_ and the introduction of robots with hearts had only made him angrier. He had only tolerated it all in the hopes that Tenma would step down or pass away so that he could be the new Minister. And Tenma had stepped down when he set that fire and disappeared, but Haburosa wasn't named as his replacement and it had infuriated him. Ochanomizu hadn't been the new Minister for even a month before Haburosa was turning in his resignation form. His decision to reactivate the robot boy that Tenma left to burn in Laboratory Seven had been the final straw for Haburosa, it seemed.

A scientist was a far cry from a kidnapper, though. Ochanomizu knew before he said it what Haburosa's plan was going to be. He had a strong, _strong_ desire to punch something. He wasn't a violent man, but Ochanomizu couldn't take that smug look on Haburosa's face. He was going to turn a _child_ into a _slave_ just for some petty revenge.

And of course, Haburosa wouldn't see it that way. Because robots weren't people to him, so how could they be children?

" _I created the Omega chip,"_ Haburosa said boastfully. Like that was an accomplishment. " _It can make robots obey, exactly how they should be."_

Hearing him admit his plan aloud was different than just knowing about it. Much as Ochanomizu tried to control himself, there was another emotion swelling in his chest. The anger was gone and he felt cold. He was _terrified_.

It took a few tries, but Ochanomizu managed to get out, "So you used it on Uran and Atlas as a test and you kidnapped Atom because...!"

He couldn't bring himself to finish it. Not that it mattered, because Haburosa gleefully picked up where Ochanomizu had stopped. " _That's right. I plan to meld the chip to Atom's electronic brain."_ He didn't say anything else — not even a final taunt. He just ended the call there.

Ochanomizu had never been so scared in his life. It wasn't like Atom hadn't been in danger before, but bodily harm could be repaired. He had thorough blueprints, millions of dollars in Ministry funding, and a full staff of some of the brightest scientific minds in Japan. Sure, maybe Ochanomizu didn't know the secret to _every_ in and out of Atom's body, down to the last crossed wire, but he could even out dents and weld together what got torn apart and replace what was worn.

Atom's body was durable and it could be replaced. But any damage to his brain, or to his heart would be... Ochanomizu knew already that he couldn't fix that. He wasn't the one who had designed that ingenious AI and he was too afraid of what other damage might be done if he even tried. He had barely understood it enough to create Uran, after months of work with a team of AI specialists. If that _maniac_ managed to weld an Omega chip to Atom's brain, then…

Then only Doctor Tenma would be able to fix him. Ochanomizu had never been desperate enough to try seeking him out for help and he really didn't want to find out where his limit was. He couldn't let it come to that. For Atom's sake, if nothing else.

Stricken, he turned to Yuko. "This is horrible! Yuko, we have to save Atom quickly!" Ochanomizu shouted. He was trying to keep his wits about himself, but who knew how long they had? If Haburosa was feeling secure enough to call the Ministry to gloat, then he most likely wasn't going to waste any time.

The thought that Haburosa might have already finished the procedure crossed Ochanomizu's mind and he refused to even consider it. It couldn't be too late.

"But how are we going to find Atom before...?" Yuko didn't finish her question, trailing off. Ochanomizu didn't blame her. She had to have the same worries flashing through her mind that he did. Atom was like a little brother to her.

The door to Ochanomizu's office slid open before he had to answer, which was a relief because he had no idea what he would have said otherwise. Inspector Tawashi entered, which wasn't surprising. He was at the Ministry so often for problems related to Atom that no one tried to stop him anymore. The person that he had brought with him, though, was what had Ochanomizu doing a double-take.

"Excuse us," Tawashi said, and the man accompanying him stepped forward.

Seeing him, Ochanomizu felt a pang of pity. He remembered Mr. Tokugawa, the Chairman of the Tokugawa group. They had only spoken briefly, but the mental image of him falling to his knees, clutching that tattered atlas to his chest as he sobbed, was permanently seared into Ochanomizu's mind.

"Y-You're...!" He didn't say the name, but Ochanomizu didn't need to. He felt hope swell in his chest. If Atlas was involved, then there was only one reason why Tokugawa would be at the Ministry.

The grim expression on his face said it all, but Tokugawa nodded anyway. "I can find Atom and Daichi."

Daichi. It invoked the same feeling in Ochanomizu as the name Tobio did. He knew that they wouldn't find Daichi, no matter where they searched. He was dead. But Ochanomizu had been at Tobio's funeral, to support his boss, and he vividly remembered the expressionless way Tenma had started at that body in the child-sized casket. Denial. Tokugawa had that same look on his face. He was looking at Ochanomizu but he was seeing something else entirely. Somewhere in his mind, a little boy was clutching his hand, happy to have his father's attention.

It wasn't about Daichi or Tobio, though. It was about those who had come after them.

Ochanomizu swallowed the urge to correct Tokugawa and nodded. "Then we shouldn't waste any time. Yuko, can you stay here and make sure the press doesn't catch wind of this while I go with the police?"

Ever the professional, Yuko didn't protest, though she clearly wanted to. "Of course, sir." She grabbed Ochanomizu by the hand before he could leave, hesitating. "And… good luck. Bring him home safely, but don't do anything to needlessly endanger yourself, either."

Anything for Atom's sake was necessary, Ochanomizu thought, yet he nodded anyway. "I'll be alright, Yuko. And so will Atom. We'll be back before you know it," he promised.

He thought to tell Uran what had happened, but he pictured her good mood ruined by concern that went nowhere and decided against it. She wouldn't even have to know. Ochanomizu would bring her brother home and make sure that the man who kidnapped him was locked away in prison.

He turned away from Yuko, determined not to let another second go to waste. As he followed Tawashi and Tokugawa out of his office, Ochanomizu started explaining his side.

"The kidnapper was Doctor Haburosa," Ochanomizu said. "You remember him, don't you, Inspector?"

There was a grunt from Tawashi. "Yes, somewhat. I took a statement from him on the incident about a fire being started at the Ministry, but I never interacted with him outside of that."

That was still more familiarity than Ochanomizu had been expecting. He had seen Inspector Tawashi maybe three times in his entire life before everything with Tenma happened. Anymore, it seemed like the police were at the Ministry every other week for _something_.

"Doctor Haburosa was the Vice Minister under Doctor Tenma and he resigned not long after I took the position after him. He personally confessed his crimes to me just before you came into my office," explained Ochanomizu. "He created what he calls Omega chips that can be implanted into a robot's brain. It allows whoever's controlling them to turn off their free will and use the robot like a puppet, essentially." And the worst part was… "I examined one of the chips. There's no way to deactivate them without destroying them and, to do that, you'll most likely have to end up destroying the rampaging robot in question."

Somehow, Ochanomizu managed to keep his voice even, but he was having trouble breathing evenly. He could imagine it. The scenario was frequent in his nightmares: Atom crushing skulls like grapes, leveling cities with beams strong enough to slide right through solid rock, his eyes empty and unseeing because there was no longer a person in that husk to process any of the carnage.

He had been so tempted, many times, to remove Atom's overly powerful abilities. Then maybe Doctor Tenma would lose interest and stop trying to make a child into a warrior king. But Atom already had so many enemies that doing so would put him in more danger than before. At least Atom could protect himself. Most of the time. And when he couldn't, well, Ochanomizu was always standing by.

There was silence between the three men down the rest of the hallway. When they stepped into the elevator, however, Tokugawa surprised him. As soon as the doors had shut behind them, the man let out a sigh and turned to Ochanomizu.

"I know how you feel, Doctor," he said seriously. "But our boys are strong. They'll be able to hold themselves together at least until we get there."

Ochanomizu blinked rapidly and willed away the stinging in his eyes. He started to agree but had his response cut off when Tawashi suddenly cut in.

"I don't want you two getting mixed ideas about this," the Inspector began, and Ochanomizu already knew that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear. "Metro City Police are going specifically to apprehend Doctor Haburosa and, if necessary, destroy Atom and Atlas. They aren't children, they're both highly advanced and very dangerous robots that were built by Doctor Tenma. We aren't going to gamble millions of lives for two robots."

He had never said it quite like that before, but Ochanomizu had always known that Tawashi found his "fondness" for Atom to be more than a little bit bizarre. The man didn't even think that the robots he worked with had feelings. Ochanomizu had never expected the Inspector to be able to see past Atom's circuits and wires and be able to recognize him for the child that he was.

He wasn't angry, though. Fighting pointless battles wasn't something that Ochanomizu made a habit out of. Instead, calmer than he had been all day, he turned to Inspector Tawashi and said, very deliberately, "If you want to kill my son, you'll have to kill me first."

Other than momentary surprise, Tawashi didn't respond. Ochanomizu knew that he hadn't changed his mind — two robots and a person was still a more favorable loss than millions or, potentially, billions. But at that moment, they both understood each other. It wasn't that Ochanomizu had made a threat. No, that was a _promise_.

Winning that battle in the elevator meant nothing, really, but Ochanomizu was biding his time. He was going to win the war, too.

And one day, he would be able to legally call Atom his son instead of Ministry property.


	5. So This is Where You Fell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on E48: Journey to Tomorrow. It came out a lot different in tone than the others, but I'm happy with it.

The explosion was deafening. A brilliant burst of light made everything go white. Ochanomizu didn't feel the snow swirling around him or the heat wave that singed his winter coat. He didn't register that the light had taken up the full sky because he couldn't see anything other than Atom's smiling face. The relief he had shown after finally convincing Blue Knight to stop the war — gone, in a split second.

Ochanomizu stumbled forward, fingers twitching, wanting desperately to clutch something that wasn't there. "A-Atom…" He managed. He was surprised that he had gotten that much out. It felt like his heart wasn't beating.

He had to be dreaming. It was a nightmare. There was no possible way that Atom really… Ochanomizu waited without daring to breathe, eyes frantically scanning the sky. Any second, Atom would break through the fiery explosion in the sky, a little dinged up but shakily trying to convince everyone that he was fine. He had done it before. Why would this time be any different? Any second, Ochanomizu was sure.

But one second turned into two, then into five, and an entire minute had passed before anyone could remember how to move. The windy sky high above the Antarctic had already blown most of the smoke away. The air was super-heated and it was raining fire that put itself out long before it could reach the ground. Robotonia kept pulling away, up and up and up…

And Atom didn't come back down.

"Doctor." Delta stood behind Ochanomizu, sounding hesitant. "I… don't think Atom will be coming back on his own. We should go get him."

The bitter cold of the arctic hadn't registered until just that moment. Ochanomizu felt like all the warmth had been sucked out of him. He knew what Delta was trying to say. Atom wasn't invincible. If he took that bomb detonation directly, then…

"No." Ochanomizu was surprised by how steady his voice came out when his body wouldn't stop trembling. "He's coming back. Atom _always_ comes back. He wouldn't let something like this just…" Scatter him into a thousand pieces.

Delta hadn't moved. Ochanomizu heard him shifting, as though trying to decide what to do with his hands, before settling on keeping them at his sides. "You should at least get onto the ship, Doctor. You and the other humans. Just in case… some of the debris…" He trailed off but Ochanomizu wasn't really listening.

Debris. Did he mean fragments of the missile or pieces of Atom?

His eyes didn't leave the sky for even a second. There had to be _something_. A glint of metal, a cry of alarm, the brief flash of failing thrusters. Ochanomizu kept telling himself that injuries were fine. He could fix anything that was wrong, physically. He would take any injury, no matter how gruesome or seemingly impossible to repair, just so long as Atom was alive.

 _There_.

Without warning, Ochanomizu took off running. He heard Delta calling for him to come back, but even with his age catching up to him and the thick snow making his feet heavy, Ochanomizu couldn't dream of stopping. There was a streak in the sky, something smoking as it fell toward Earth. And it was coming toward them, too. It had to be Atom. Ochanomizu couldn't entertain any other possibility. The other options were too painful to consider.

Whatever it was (Atom, it had to be him) landed in the snow ahead of Ochanomizu. He didn't know how far away it was, with the white of the ground and sky blending seamlessly as far as the eye could see, but it didn't matter. The wind had died down and it wasn't snowing. Ochanomizu pushed himself forward.

He stumbled the final steps to it and his expression immediately crumbled. "Atom." His lips felt frozen and his fingers were numb. Ochanomizu couldn't bring himself to look away from the sight in front of him. "Atom… Oh, God," he murmured.

It was his head. Just the head, with the snow around it melted and steaming. Ochanomizu fell to his knees and grabbed it anyway. Touching it burned his hands but he only clutched the head tighter. _Good_ , Ochanomizu thought ruefully. He deserved it. He was the one who had told Atom to go to Antarctica, to find Blue Knight, to involve himself in a war that he wanted nothing to do with from the beginning.

He wasn't crying, though. It felt like Ochanomizu didn't have the awareness for it. He was still in a daze, staring horrified at Atom's expressionless face. His eyes were dead. They were just cameras that had been turned off. Ochanomizu was holding nothing more than a hunk of metal, not his son.

With shaking hands, he turned the head over to examine the neck. Wires were torn and several were missing. The joints had been smashed, either from the landing impact or from the explosion that knocked it loose. Terrified, Ochanomizu looked up and saw several other streaks in the sky, falling down around him. Many more had landed in steaming craters of their own. What would he find, if he stumbled over to the next one? A part of Atom's torso? His arm?

The logical part of his brain was working in overdrive. The explosion would have set off the rocket fuel in Atom's boots. He was probably going to need new feet entirely. Nothing would be able to be scavenged from that. If it had caused a chain reaction and destroyed his heart, too, then Ochanomizu knew it was hopeless. He would never be able to reinvent the genius behind Tenma's power structure. Atom would only be able to be a tenth as strong as he used to be. It would be like crippling him. He wouldn't be the same again.

Assuming, of course, that Ochanomizu could even recover enough of a body and brain to call it "Atom."

Something occurred to him then, so suddenly that Ochanomizu actually felt like the breath had been knocked out of him. He scrambled to find the release switch for Atom's face plate. It was just behind his ear, but Ochanomizu was having trouble getting his numb fingers to coordinate well-enough to trigger it.

Eventually, though, he managed to catch on it. Ochanomizu pried it open and his heart nearly stopped when several pieces fell out. He forced himself to look and take in the full extent of the damage done.

It looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to Atom's brain. It was crushed from rattling around, untethered, in his head on the way down. The wires that connected to his eyes were ripped out. The artificial facial muscles that looked so much like a human's were falling out of their grooves. And the hippocampus…

The part of Atom's brain that stored his memories was gone. Ochanomizu couldn't differentiate it from the rest of the metal fragments. The world faded away. He was shaking so badly that he had to put Atom's head down out of fear that he would drop it and make everything worse. Behind him, he could hear that Delta had finally caught up and was trying to tell him something, but the words weren't registering. Ochanomizu couldn't hear past his heartbeat throbbing in his throat. His vision blurred to the point that he couldn't see anything but white. He blinked to clear it and tears rolled down his face.

"Atom." It was like that was all Ochanomizu could say, and it still came out as a wheeze. He couldn't formulate any other words. His son was the only thing he could think about.

He shoved his hands into the snow, not caring if his fingers were turning blue at the tips. Ochanomizu grabbed the metal pieces of Atom's brain that had fallen out when he opened the head. He wasn't going to leave any part of him behind. They were too important. If Ochanomizu got anything wrong, then he wouldn't have Atom anymore. He would have made something else entirely. He fumbled for every scrap and shard, scooping them into his hands, snow and all.

A hand on his shoulder gave him pause. Delta sounded just as choked up when he said, "It will be alright, Doctor. We can fix him."

Ochanomizu didn't answer. The response that he tried came out only as a sob as his fingers curled into fists. The jagged edges were digging into his hands, drawing pinpricks of blood that burned along his ice-cold skin.

Suddenly, Ochanomizu understood what Atom said earlier, in his speech to Blue Knight — about how hatred between humans and robots would only breed more hatred. Because, kneeling there in the tundra with fragments of Atom's brain clutched in his trembling fists and his body scattered in pieces for miles, Ochanomizu had never hated humanity more.


	6. This is Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on E49: Atom Reborn. Last chapter, and the longest one, for one of my favorite episodes! Finally, a chapter with a happy ending.

Everything else he had said before should have tipped Ochanomizu off. Atom hadn't recognized any of them and then he had introduced himself as _Tobio Tenma_. He was wearing a dead boy's clothes — the yellow shorts, the sky-blue collared jacket, and even down to the red boots, all of which Ochanomizu recognized from one of the few times he had actually met Tobio.

 _Tobio_ was supposed to be Tenma's son. And he was supposed to be dead, too. Tenma wasn't supposed to take Ochanomizu's son instead. He wasn't supposed to remove the precious memories they had formed and implant a different name, a different father.

As patiently and gently as he could, Ochanomizu held out his hands, trying to make an offer. "Atom, come back home with us." There was a plea in his voice. Doctor Tenma was standing right there, watching the interaction, and no doubt feeling smug. Ochanomizu didn't care if he was acting pathetic.

Two months. He had waited two months to say that — one month trying to repair Atom himself and another month spent anxiously waiting for Doctor Tenma's call of confirmation. Two long, painfully slow months wondering if he had made the right choice or not.

Their reunion wasn't going at all how Ochanomizu had imagined.

Atom's eyes were open, very much awake and aware, but there was no recognition in them. All of his maturity and levelheadedness — all the ways he had grown and improved and learned since Ochanomizu had first explained the concept of "rules" — had been forgotten, leaving behind an innocent child. "Mister, I don't understand," he said, face crinkled with confusion. "This _is_ my home."

Through the interactions beforehand, Ochanomizu was too numb with shock to react properly. A part of him was still in denial. Seeing Atom cling to Tenma's hand, half-hiding behind his leg like a scared child, it made something in Ochanomizu's stomach twist. " _This is my home,"_ he had said, and he had been so genuine in his insistence. Ochanomizu felt sick. He swore that his heart stopped for a few seconds.

"What did you say…?" He managed, choking on every syllable.

Ochanomizu was saved from having to continue when Uran suddenly exploded. She slammed her hands down on the table, causing him to jump. "Go home, go home, go home, go home _now_! You have to go back home with us!" She shouted, looking seconds away from grabbing her brother and forcing him out the door.

He might have even let her do it, had Ochanomizu not noticed the look on Atom's face. The grip that he had on Tenma's sleeve tightened as he leaned in closer to his "father," shrinking behind him and watching Uran warily. He was tense. Uran was registering as a threat, not a friend.

When Uran let out a shout of frustration, opening her mouth to start yelling again, Ochanomizu stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Uran." He waited for his daughter to acknowledge him before continuing. "If he doesn't want to go with us, we can't make him."

If he did, they would be no better than Tenma. Atom didn't need the trauma of being ripped from his father's arms by strangers. And, somehow, Ochanomizu got the feeling that Tenma wouldn't just let them walk out the front door with Atom. The last thing that they needed was a fight, especially with two children in the crossfire.

"But…" Uran looked up at him with big, confused eyes, pleading for an explanation.

"I know how you feel," he said, turning to Tenma, "but we can't _force him_ to obey." Ochanomizu leveled a pointed glare at the doctor. Tenma never learned. He never fixed any of his mistakes. Just like he had with Tobio, there he was trying to control Atom, mold him into the ideal son that he thought he deserved.

Meeting his glare, Tenma looked back with a smirk. He stood, relaxed, as everyone else in the room was teetering on the edge of doing something they would regret. "Ochanomizu. Remember, I held up my end of the deal," Tenma said, still radiating self-satisfaction.

It was time to go. Spending any more time around Tenma was going to make Ochanomizu lose the little bit of self-control he was still clinging to. He took his hand off of Uran's shoulder and placed his hat back on his head. "Yes, I get it," he grunted.

Even though Uran and Yuko both clearly disagreed, they followed Ochanomizu when he left the house. Stepping out into the sun shining on a beautiful day felt like a betrayal. He blinked rapidly. Ochanomizu felt terrible for leaving Atom in that house of horrors but, until he figured out some way to get Atom away from Tenma and to the Ministry so they could restore his memory, there was no other option for him.

Yuko had driven them there, but Ochanomizu took the driver's seat and slammed his foot on the gas. As soon as they were in the car, Yuko was shouting. Uran sat in the back, quiet and glaring at the floor as though it had personally wronged her somehow. But while Uran was still struggling to catch up, Yuko had no problem telling Ochanomizu _exactly_ what she thought of how he handled that situation.

He said nothing and let her rant. Had Yuko not been his secretary— no, his _friend_ for years — she would have gotten fired for some of the things that she said. Her insults to his moral character, his intelligence, his parental resolve… She threw every name in the book at him. If Uran hadn't been in the car with them, Ochanomizu had the feeling that Yuko's verbal lashing would have been ten times worse. He had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel and his jaw was clenched to the point of pain. Still, Ochanomizu resolutely ignored everything that Yuko said. He looked directly ahead until he arrived at his home and put the hovercar in park.

"Uran," Ochanomizu said when he stepped out of the car. His daughter looked up at him, the first movement she had made since sitting down, but her glare remained. "You should go to your room for a little while. I need to speak to Yuko in private."

To his surprise, though, Uran shook her head. "No! Ms. Yuko is right. Why did we leave big brother with that strange man?" She demanded. Sliding out of the car, she clutched Yuko's hand, both of them fixing Ochanomizu with the same curious glare.

He sighed. "What could I do? Atom didn't want to come with us and Doctor Tenma wasn't going to let him, regardless. And furthermore, when I made the deal for him to repair Atom, I agreed that I wouldn't tell anyone of his location, and that includes the police. I'm sorry." Ochanomizu shook his head. "My hands are tied."

He was surprised that Yuko didn't physically explode. "Who gives a _damn_ about your pride or keeping your word?" She snapped, red-faced with anger. "That man is a _kidnapper_! How could you ever even _consider_ leaving Atom with a psychopath like _him_?"

Ochanomizu opened his mouth, then quickly closed it and looked away. Ignoring Yuko and Uran calling after him, he turned and went into the house. There was nothing else that he could say. They weren't going to listen to him. Frankly, Ochanomizu didn't blame them. It was a rather lackluster excuse. But what else was he supposed to tell them?

The real reason, the one that Ochanomizu couldn't bring himself to admit aloud, was that he didn't know what Tenma might do if the police were sent after him. The man was obviously unhinged and had been for a while. With Atom playing the role of his obedient son, Tenma had complete control of his life.

And if Ochanomizu broke his promise to keep quiet, he had no doubt that Tenma could and would make Atom pay for it. He was so terrified that, if he barged into that restored home with the police, he would find only a pile of spare and broken parts just like in Antarctica. As if what happened in that house was nothing more than a terrible nightmare and Ochanomizu would wake up any moment to a situation just as bleak as it had been when he was collecting Atom's pieces from the tundra.

So he let Yuko scream herself hoarse and offered her tea when her voice failed. He listened to all of her more reasonable, calmer suggestions and shook his head. He let Uran wreck the living room with a tantrum that nearly had the walls shaking and merely waited for her to storm off to her room before cleaning up.

"You killed him!" Uran had shrieked at him, tears in her eyes. "You let my brother die _twice_!" Ochanomizu took the accusation with a wince and didn't try to defend himself.

They were both right. But two deaths were better than inviting a third.

Still, just because Ochanomizu was complacent with the rightly-deserved treatment from Yuko and Uran didn't mean that he had given up. After he made sure that Uran was in bed and asleep, he retired to his office and rolled up his sleeves to begin plotting.

He didn't sleep much that night. Or, at all, actually. By the time sunrise came, Ochanomizu's wastepaper basket had disappeared under a pile of crumpled notes and blueprints. He was running on no sleep and a mountain of frustration. All the ideas that he came up with ultimately failed because of two problems: Atom and Tenma.

The easiest thing to do was a reverse kidnapping of Atom but, aside from Ochanomizu's moral misgivings, it soon began to seem like an impossibility. For one, Atom was ridiculously powerful. Even if he had no memory of Ochanomizu or his life before the explosion at Robotonia, he had basic self-defense protocols. If Ochanomizu tried to grab him, he was going to get his head blown off. Or Atom was going to launch himself through the roof to get away. Or Ochanomizu would end up with a broken arm. There were a lot of things that could go wrong.

And even if Ochanomizu managed to turn Atom off somehow (his mind flashed to the barbaric, old method of Kuri Rings and Ochanomizu shuddered, swiftly dismissing the idea) without getting himself killed in the process, how was he going to deal with Tenma? There was no doubt that Doctor Tenma would have some sort of failsafe planned for that very contingency. Just because Tenma was smug and a little complacent didn't mean that he was an idiot. He would never rub his supposed victory in Ochanomizu's face unless he was prepared to defend his prize.

Because that was what Atom was to Tenma, wasn't he? A prize. Some sort of trophy.

At seven o'clock, Robita knocked on Ochanomizu's office door to let him know that breakfast was ready. He was probably going to get a lecture from her for not sleeping, but he didn't care. How was he supposed to eat or sleep or go to work when all he could think about was what Tenma could be doing to his son?

Ochanomizu forced himself to put down his work and left his office, going upstairs. His gaze trailed down the hall, to Atom's room. He hadn't planned on ending up there, but his feet carried him to the abandoned bedroom anyway.

He pushed the door open and it didn't so much as creak. Robita was as thorough as ever with her maintenance. Personally, Ochanomizu didn't know how she could stand to be anywhere near Atom's room. Even standing in the threshold, looking over the room, Ochanomizu was fighting not to turn and run. The weight in the room was oppressive. Nothing had been disturbed since Atom last touched it. Ochanomizu remembered that day: waking up frustrated and preparing his best arguments for the Federal Court, completely unaware that by evening, he would be speeding home with Yuko to make sure that Atom and Uran got out of the house before they were captured and decommissioned like every other robot with a heart had been ordered to be.

That last morning in the house together, Ochanomizu had been so busy and distracted that he hadn't said a word to either of his children. He swallowed his regret and it burned all the way down. Shutting the door behind him, Ochanomizu turned and padded back down the hall.

"Uran." He knocked on his daughter's door, prepared for the lack of an answer. That was how she was: if tantrums didn't work to get her way, then she resorted to the silent treatment. It never lasted very long, though. "Uran, I'm heading into the Ministry for work. Will you be alright on your own?"

When there was still nothing, not even a grunt or the thud of something she threw hitting the door, Ochanomizu pushed it open. To his surprise, Uran wasn't there. Her bed had been left unmade and her window was flung wide open.

Crossing the room, Ochanomizu poked his head outside and looked around. He didn't spot Uran in the yard or on the roof, where she and Atom often went if they were lost in thought. He pulled back after a moment but left the window open, frowning in thought. He ought to go out and find Uran, but considering what happened the day before, Ochanomizu thought that she could use the alone time. If she wasn't back by dinner, he had ways to track her but… otherwise, it was probably best to let her sulk. And if her frustration led to a plan for getting her brother back, then that was all the better.

Back downstairs, Ochanomizu took his hat from Robita and she helped him shrug on his jacket. She looped a tie around his neck and handed Ochanomizu his briefcase, both of which he hadn't realized he'd forgotten.

"Thank you, Robita," he said reflexively, not even needing to think about it. "If Uran isn't home by the time I'm ready to leave the Ministry, would you notify me? She's not taking yesterday's news well."

And neither was Robita. Ochanomizu could tell. She kept to her usual standard of work, but everything was done with a certain dimness. Robita was slower than usual and not because she was an old model. Her speed and enthusiasm had started waning two months ago. It felt like nothing in Ochanomizu's world had been functioning correctly since Atom was reduced to a pile of scrap metal.

" _Yes, sir,"_ came Robita's reply. She opened the door for Ochanomizu and that was that.

There was no reason for Ochanomizu to go into work, really. He had sick days that he could use up, but he got the feeling that having direct access to the Ministry's employees and resources would help him think better than being cooped up in his office at home. Besides, the further away he was from memories of Atom and that sense of domesticity, the more he could focus on the task at hand.

Of course, shoving off more paperwork wasn't going to make Yuko happy, but she wasn't talking to Ochanomizu unless necessary. Not that she was crude about it, rather that she seemed lost in thought and wasn't interested in small talk or pleasantries. Ochanomizu couldn't blame her for that. Actually, he was rather relieved. It meant that he had one less distraction.

The day wore on, seeming to take both an eternity and no time at all. Ochanomizu glanced over the work he was supposed to be completing, as Director of the Ministry, but didn't touch it. By the time the sun was low on the west horizon, he had a small pile of blueprints made for possible plans.

Still, the main issue continued to be Ochanomizu's moral compass. Despite all of the possible things that could go wrong, kidnapping Atom himself and bringing him back to the Ministry to restore his blocked memories was still the simplest and most straightforward option. But Ochanomizu couldn't bring himself to go beyond considering it. He would feel sickened with himself if he did something like that to anyone, much less his own son, and that was where his debate was: which was more reprehensible, to kidnap Atom or to leave him with Tenma?

As Ochanomizu was considering going home and sleeping on it, exhausted and regretting his inability to sleep the night before, his intercom buzzed. " _Doctor,"_ Yuko's voice sounded. " _Inspector Tawashi is here to see you."_

Internally, Ochanomizu winced. Tawashi was too perceptive sometimes. He had been hounding Ochanomizu about Atom's whereabouts for the last month, ever since someone on the Ministry's staff leaked to the press that Atom was missing from the lab. Ochanomizu's refusal to give a direct statement to the public, only promising that he was "working on it," was even more suspicious.

He didn't bother to answer Yuko. Tawashi was going to come in with or without an invitation, anyway.

Sure enough, about a minute later the door to Ochanomizu's office opened with an automated swish. Inspector Tawashi marched in, his face set with determination. Ochanomizu barely had the energy to feel exasperated. He glanced at the clock in the corner of his computer monitor. How long was the latest interrogation going to take?

"No comment," Ochanomizu said as soon as Tawashi opened his mouth. "Is that all?"

"I'm not here for games, Doctor," the Inspector snapped. He stopped a few feet from Ochanomizu's desk and raised an eyebrow. "You look awful. Did something happen? It's about Atom, isn't it?"

A part of Ochanomizu wished that Tawashi could go back to not caring about Atom, like he did before. His sudden concern for Atom's well-being probably stemmed from guilt. As though maybe if he had been quicker in getting the Federal Court to suspend their orders to dismantle AI robots, then Atom wouldn't have had to flee for Antarctica and he wouldn't have been damaged at all.

Ochanomizu had been playing the blame game with himself for as long as he had known Atom. But no matter what he could have done differently, Ochanomizu knew that Atom would have ended up on that frozen battlefield eventually, anyway. His heart was too kind for him to feel satisfied watching the carnage from the sidelines.

"No, it's not about Atom," lied Ochanomizu. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my work. There are several very important matters I need to deal with—"

"More important than your _son_?" Tawashi cut him off, incredulous. He stalked forward, closing the distance between them to slam one hand down on Ochanomizu's desk. "Doctor, you can't lie to me! It's clear to see when you're upset!"

Subconsciously leaning back, Ochanomizu found himself recoiling from the accusation. Not that it was entirely unfounded. "Inspector Tawashi…" He couldn't bring himself to finish, closing his eyes and turning away as though Tawashi might be gone when he looked again.

"Can you tell me where Atom is or not?" When Ochanomizu stayed silent, Tawashi's voice turned pleading: a tone that he hadn't known the Inspector was capable of. " _Doctor_!"

And the worst part was that Ochanomizu almost told him. It wasn't even because he thought that the Inspector would be capable of pulling off a subtle rescue mission (which he couldn't, because Tawashi's strengths had never been in subtility). It was the opportunity to unload on someone who wouldn't judge him, as Uran and Yuko already had. The genuine desire to help was far too convincing. Ochanomizu opened his mouth, and...

The intercom beeped, interrupting them. " _Incoming message for the inspector,"_ Yuko announced. She accepted the transmission without asking for permission. Grateful, Ochanomizu swallowed his confession. Hopefully this would be important enough to get Tawashi out of his office.

" _Inspector, it's an emergency!"_ The officer on screen said frantically. " _A mecha is attacking block K2-201!"_

Ochanomizu only knew a few of Metro City's blocks by memory. His home's location was one of them, along with the Ministry, but he had grown very familiar with that one into his research for the blueprints to Tenma's house.

He stood up, nearly knocking his chair over in his haste. "What? Block K2-201?" It couldn't be a coincidence.

Immediately, Tawashi was turning to him, reeking of suspicion. "What do you know about block K2-201?" He demanded. "Does it have something to do with Atom? Why would he be in the middle of a suburban neighborhood?"

It would have been so easy to lie. Ochanomizu could have said that he had family living there and that would have at least gotten him through the day, until Tawashi got the authorization to check his family records. But there was a mecha destroying the area where Atom was and he didn't have any memory of how to defend himself. Time was of the essence. And nothing would get Tawashi and his men down there faster than the truth.

"I gave Atom to Doctor Tenma for the repairs that I'm not skilled enough to complete!" Ochanomizu blurted out. He had already darted out from behind his desk, not bothering to take off his Ministry uniform. He was making a beeline for the door, Tawashi hot on his heels. "He repaired Atom successfully and erased his memories. He doesn't know who I am or that he's even a robot at all! And Doctor Tenma's house is in that block. We need to get down there!"

" _Jesus_." They burst into the hallway and Tawashi quickened the pace to come up on Ochanomizu's side. "You can ride with me in my squad car. I'll alert all active units."

Not trusting himself to speak, Ochanomizu settled for a nod and shoved his gratitude to the side. There would be time to thank Tawashi later, once they figured out what the hell was going on and put a stop to it.

Inspector Tawashi shouted into his radio all the way through the elevator trip down to the first floor and the entire ride to Tenma's house. Well, more like a race with the way that Tawashi glued his foot to the pedal, not that Ochanomizu was complaining. He wasn't listening to what Tawashi was saying, his own thoughts running too quickly to keep up with.

How had this happened? Atom had many enemies, sure, but Ochanomizu had only known that his son was awake for a _day_. It seemed so impossible to him, that someone had…

A thought occurred to Ochanomizu and he froze. Unless whoever was attacking had been following _him_ , knowing that Ochanomizu would end up with Atom at some point. Which meant that he had led the attacker right to their target. Guilt clawed at Ochanomizu's throat. Had it been possible, he would have demanded Tawashi to go faster.

The worst of it was over by the time they arrived at Tenma's address. Ochanomizu was opening the passenger door before the hovercar had even touched the ground, stepping out when there were still a few more inches to go. He surveyed the damage frantically. Having just been there the day before, Ochanomizu had an image in his mind of how pristine it had been. It was hard to believe that he was looking at the same house.

The structure looked to be slumping, riddled with cracks and shallow holes where it had been struck by rubble. The entire top of the house had been swiped clean off, littering the ground around it. Footsteps big enough to lay down in were imprinted upon the concrete path up to the house, spaced far enough apart that Ochanomizu knew it had been a running start. Whoever had been piloting the mecha was furious and determined to prove it. On the left side of the yard, Ochanomizu spotted the enormous mecha collapsed on its side and covered in ash. The few officers that had beaten them to the scene were already clamoring over to it, forcing someone from the cockpit. Ochanomizu didn't care to see who the culprit was. He would be handling _that_ in court. At that moment, he was only concerned about one thing.

"Doctor!" A high-pitched squeal got his attention and Ochanomizu's head whipped around violently.

Well, actually, he was concerned about _two_ things.

"Uran?" Despite his surprise, Ochanomizu opened his arms automatically as his daughter came bounding over to him and threw herself against him. Apparently, the officers guarding the gate and directing away concerned neighbors hadn't been enough to stop her. "Uran, what are you doing here? Were you—?" He glanced over at the mecha. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

She pulled back, looking away nervously. It wasn't until Ochanomizu knelt down to be at Uran's level, his hands gently set on her shoulders, that he noticed there were tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, sniffling and rubbing her eyes. "I'm sorry for being so angry with you, a-and… saying all of those mean things. And for running off this morning. I just…" Uran bit her lip and let out a sob. "I just missed big brother, so much."

Ochanomizu softened and he pulled Uran into him again. "It's alright, I understand. That's why I wasn't upset with you," he soothed. "We do things we don't mean when we're upset, Uran. Thank you for apologizing." He shifted back to look at Uran, relaxing when he saw a smile on her face. He reached up, cupping her cheeks, and brushed the tears away gently. She giggled at the sensation and a few more tears slipped out. "Where is Atom now? Did you see him?" Somehow, Ochanomizu got the feeling that Uran had nothing to do with the mecha, but he also couldn't see her handling it all on her own.

"Yeah!" Uran brightened at the question, though her smile was quick to fall. "He defeated the robot and I thought he got his memories back, but… then he told us to wait and he went back inside." She pointed to the house and her face creased with pity. "...with that sad man."

"Sad?" Ochanomizu raised an eyebrow but chose not to question it. He glanced toward the broken house. There was no sign of movement but, if Atom was in there confronting Tenma, Ochanomizu already knew that he didn't want him to be doing it alone. He nodded and straightened up, reaching into his lab coat to grab his communicator. "Uran, I want you to call Yuko and let her know what happened. She deserves to know. I'm going to bring Atom home."

Uran clutched the communicator so tightly that Ochanomizu feared she might snap it. "You mean it?" She asked, eyes lighting up.

Despite the enormity of the situation, Ochanomizu managed a genuine smile for her. "I promise." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before straightening up. With one last nod from Uran, Ochanomizu turned away and started toward the house.

It looked like Tawashi was busy with the man they had pulled from the mecha, but he wouldn't stay that way for long. Ochanomizu was going to have to work quickly. He had no idea how much of Atom's memory had come back to him (or if any of it had at all — he could have been acting out of self-defense) but, hopefully, it was enough for him to come home.

Picking his way carefully through the rubble, Ochanomizu made his way to the front door. It was hanging crookedly on its broken hinges, but he wouldn't have bothered to knock either way. Steadying himself, he pushed the door out of the way and stepped inside.

Shouting was what greeted him in the foyer as Ochanomizu rounded the short corner that led into the living room. He hadn't expected anything less, but he still couldn't help but be disappointed. He had known Doctor Tenma when he was the Director of the Ministry of Science, a brilliant man if not somewhat distant. And he had never been a bad person or a terrible father, really. He had just been busy and lost sight of what was important.

A lot had changed after Tobio died. The man towering over his son, screaming and unable to see the terrified way that the child cowered away from him, couldn't possibly be Tenma anymore.

The sound of his shoes clicking against the dirty wood floor announced Ochanomizu's presence in the room. Tenma and Atom turned to him at the same time, but Ochanomizu was only looking at his son. The way that his dread melted away, turning into a relieved smile as their eyes met, was almost too much to bear. Ochanomizu slid his gaze over to Tenma, composing himself.

"Doctor Tenma," was all he said, calmly. There was no reason that Atom should have to deal with two adults yelling.

Whereas Atom relaxed at the sight of him, Tenma did the opposite, growing tense. His expression was stricken and furious, almost… scared. "O-Ochanomizu!" Tenma's gaze darted to Atom for a split second. "What are you doing here?" As if he didn't already know.

Regardless, Ochanomizu was happy to answer. "I came to take you home," he said, turning to his son, "...Atom." He extended his hand as an offer. A choice. Regardless of the reasons why, Atom could refuse if he wanted to. Looking at the smile on his face, though, Ochanomizu got a funny feeling that he wasn't going to.

Before Atom could answer, shouts of his name came from the front door. Ochanomizu held in a laugh to see Uran and Atom's friends — Tamao, Kenichi, and Shibugaki — enter the room, all of them ecstatic. He should have known that a quick call wouldn't have occupied Uran for long, but he couldn't be annoyed.

Seeing them made Atom's face light up like something had clicked into place. As if he had never forgotten, he rattled off their names happily. Even Yuko, who came stumbling in at the last second, out of breath but grinning with Momo at her side.

"And…" Lastly, Atom's eyes zeroed in on him. It was a complete reversal of the last time they had been standing, facing each other, in that living room. There was recognition in those eyes, so intense that Ochanomizu wanted to cry. He almost did when Atom came running at him, leaving the ground in his excitement with a shout of, "Doctor Ochanomizu!" He threw his arms around his dad in an embrace, boots touching down lightly.

Ochanomizu gave him a squeeze and pulled back, grinning from ear to ear. He held Atom at arm's length, looking him over. It was real. He wasn't dreaming. All of those months of waiting and, finally, he had his son back. "Atom…" He sighed.

The moment was ruined by the sound of running footsteps. Inspector Tawashi burst into the room, red-faced and on edge. "Where is Doctor Tenma?" He demanded, barely even sparing Atom a glance.

Recovering first, Yuko pointed to the mantle, where Tenma had been standing. "Doctor Tenma is right... here." She turned and froze, dropping her hand as murmurs of confusion broke out in their little group.

Tenma was gone, not even leaving any footsteps behind to indicate which direction he fled.

" _Damnit_!" Furious, Tawashi ripped his hat off and slammed it against the ground. "We've been trying to arrest him for _months_ , and he was right there…!" It looked like Tawashi was trying not to scream. The inspector always did have a temper about him.

Stepping away from Ochanomizu, Atom spoke up. "I can go after him. He wouldn't have gone far." There was hesitation in his offer, though.

Even before the whole "memory-erasing" incident, Tenma and Atom's relationship could best be described as _complicated_. No matter what else, Tenma was still Atom's father. He always would be. At the moment, Ochanomizu had no idea just how much of them Atom even remembered. Hunting down and arresting the man who, until just ten minutes ago, had been his loving father had to leave him feeling conflicted, even if it was the right thing to do.

So Ochanomizu took matters into his own hands. He knelt down in front of Atom, gripping his shoulders gently. "Let him go," he said softly.

Stunned, all Inspector Tawashi could do was look on with his jaw practically on the floor. "W-What?" He stuttered. "After all that Tenma did, you just want to _let him go_?"

Atom had a frown on his face as he looked at Ochanomizu, silent and searching. He must have found what he was looking for though because, after a moment, he nodded. "Doctor Tenma will come back," Atom said with certainty. He hadn't broken eye-contact with Ochanomizu. "He'll come back… for me. And we won't let him get away again."

"Absolutely." Despite the grim declaration, Ochanomizu smiled. "Right now, we should get you back to the Ministry, Atom, to do a system scan and make any necessary repairs." He cupped his son's face, brushing off some of the soot on his cheek. Other than a few scratches and his torn clothes ( _Tobio's_ torn clothes), Atom looked remarkably fine. But better safe than sorry. Who knew what Tenma could have changed?

The last of the tension melted away. Atom beamed, looking from Ochanomizu to Uran to Yuko to his friends, drinking in every last one of them as if he would never see them again. Then, moving surprisingly fast, Atom wrapped his arms around his dad as well as he could and buried his head in Ochanomizu's shoulder.

"I missed you," he whispered, voice hitching. "I missed you all… _so much_."

There were tears in his eyes and Ochanomizu blinked them away. Based on the dampness of his shoulder, Atom had enough crying to do for both of them. For once, he was going to be the strong one. Like parents ought to be.

Ochanomizu put his arms around Atom in turn, squeezing him as tightly as he could. "I'm so glad you're alright, Atom," Ochanomizu muttered. "I love you."

There was no doubt that Tenma would return. The man never went down easily. He never knew when to quit. But Ochanomizu couldn't be mad at him for that particular trait because, if Doctor Tenma had been any less stubborn, Ochanomizu wouldn't have been blessed by the child he was holding in his arms.

He laughed when Uran squirmed between them, gripping Ochanomizu and Atom in one arm each. She was happy to cling to her older brother, even if his memory was still a little vague and his ill-fitting clothes were tattered and torn. Nothing was said. Ochanomizu completely forgot that there were other people in the room.

Whatever Tenma's grand finale would be (and it would be a finale, because Ochanomizu would never let that man touch his son again), they would deal with it as it came. For the moment, Atom was safe and smiling.

It made everything else worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Ochanomizu/Ochan-family appreciation fic was a lot of fun to write. I hope it was a good read!

**Author's Note:**

> **Feel free to check out my Astro Boy blog[HERE](https://astroboy2003sub.tumblr.com) for updates on my writing and other Astro Boy content!**


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